Approximately half the U.S. states are suing the Biden administration for rewriting Title IX, the landmark women’s rights legislation, to include boys who identify as girls.
Louisiana is being sued for its new law requiring the Ten Commandments to be placed in all classrooms, and some public schools are pushing back against Oklahoma state superintendent Ryan Walters for his order that the Bible be incorporated into teachers’ lesson plans.
Bible elective now in 42 statesChris Woodward, AFN.net If you ever hear someone say the Bible isn’t allowed in public schools, a national organization is happy to counter that suggestion with its own years of work. While it is true public school classrooms have become secularized since the 1960s, the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools works to get the Bible taught as an elective. "The Bible has now been implemented in over 4,200 public high schools in 42 states," Elizabeth Ridenour, National Council president, told American Family Radio. "It is an elective on campus during school hours for credit as an elective just like any other class." Public school students need the Bible, she says, because 88% of U.S. students are educated in the public school system. Those students are being exposed to secular worldviews, such as humanism and Marxism, but they have the legal right to take the Bible elective and be exposed to a Christian worldview. Ridenhour made her comments on “The Stand” AFR program. |
Christians are subject to courtroom interpretations of the Establishment Clause, a provision in the First Amendment which prohibits government from “establishing” a religion.
Proponents of gender ideology, Critical Race Theory and the like pursue their beliefs with religious fervor but with greater freedom to speak, David Barton, founder of Wallbuilders, said on Washington Watch Wednesday.
That can be hard on Christians, Barton told show host Jody Hice, but in these interesting times there are some wins to be counted, too.
“If the evangelical Christians or if Trump were to say we all need evangelical Christian principles in schools, people would go crazy,” Barton said.
“What’s happened," he continued, "is they have successfully compartmentalized faith in America to only mean Judeo-Christian faith, religious faith, Jews, Christians, evangelicals, etc. That’s never what it was designed to do, but they have done a good job of taking the platform out from under us.”
Barton says the rise of secularism in education has come at the expense of history.
“You can’t even tell a lot of the history anymore because if you did it would be highly Judeo-Christian. The fact that our founding fathers called for 1,400 prayer proclamations to God by 1815, and you’re going to tell me they were atheists, agnostics and deists? The only way you can believe that is if you haven’t been taught history,” he said.
Standing strong in Louisiana, Oklahoma
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry on Sunday said if parents have a problem with the Ten Commandments being displayed in classrooms, they can tell their kids “not to look” at them.
Walters has also been defiant, saying educators who disapprove of his Bible initiative “will comply, and I will use every means to make sure of it.”
Officials in both states believe they can defend their arguments in court.
June marked two years since the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Coach Joseph Kennedy was within his rights to pray at midfield at the conclusion of football games.
“The courts in the last four years have given back America more religious liberty than we’ve had in the last 60 years. Most people are not aware that right now you have 1,200 school districts with 200,000 kids that are taking Bible as a credit course in public schools, and the Bible is the only textbook in the course. There’s a lot of good stuff happening, we just don’t hear that,” Barton said.
While the current executive branch pushes ahead with far-left policy, Barton says he sees a shift in the U.S. judiciary.
Even back in the 1960s, during the Vietnam War, the courtroom tide was turning against Christians, Barton said.
“The courts pointed out at that time that anything you believe so fervently that it affects your behavior, that’s your religion. So, under that concept, there’s religion all over America. Progressives have their religion. They fervently believe in it, but we never hear separation of church and state with them,” Barton said.
Voters in about half the states can have a say in the makeup of state-level courts. Judges at the federal level are appointed by the president.
Christians need to speak up
For Christians, the key is finding the same level of passion shown by many Progressives. Christians have to find their voices.
“We get pushed back into the corners pretty easily, and we just can’t do that. We have to push back,” Barton said.
